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Synchro’s rising stars show skills on first day of Champs

The first day of the British Gas ASA National Age Groups Synchronised Swimming Championships 2010 got under way in style with 10 titles decided.

Youngsters across the country braved the wintery conditions to perform at the GL1 Leisure Centre in Gloucester.

When it came to the solos it was Emily Randall (Rushmoor) who took the 13/14yrs title. She put herself in a good position with the morning’s Figures (which account for 50% of the final score), by finishing second. And she managed to better her position with a score of 64.625 in the competitive solo, finishing on a final score of 65.522.

Randall, who is a Talent Satellite athlete receiving extra coaching support, performed a difficult routine with some quite intricate movements. But Adele Carlsen, British Swimming’s High Performance Manager, was also complimentary of Emily’s sister Hannah. “I think we’ve just seen one of the stars of the future,” she said.

Speaking of her medal, Emily commented: “I thought the performance went really well. I was really trying to get into the trials for the Junior British team which I did and it was great to come second in the 13/14yrs Figures too. It’s also fun competing against my sister.”

In the 15/16/17yrs competitive solo it was Rushmoor’s Robyn Bignell who was able to seize the gold. Bignell, who also won the event at last year’s Champs, had a solid start and put in a good number of rotations in one of her spin downs. She also tried to engage the crowd with some good facial expressions during her Harry Potter routine and put in a difficult double leg section towards the end of the routine to impress the judges.

Her 68.625 routine, which included two scores in the 7s for both technical merit and artistic impression, put her ahead of her nearest rival, Hannah Green (Reading Royals), and when combined with her Figures gave her an overall score of 66.251.

Team gold shared

The first team gold at the Championships was actually shared in the 15/16/17yrs Recreational Free Combination event.

The Bristol Central SC seven strong team set the bar with their energetic and sharp routine and the team’s score of 62.250 was one the City of Birmingham’s nine swimmers could only equal. The bronze went to Portsmouth Victoria SSC with 59.00

In the younger 13/14yrs category the squad from Bristol looked like they may take the spoils again in the Recreational Free Combinations but they incurred a one point technical penalty to finish on 57.250. And so it was Walsall SCC who edged the gold with their Take That themed routine and score of 57.375, much to their shock!

Eleanor Holder said: “We all like Take That – we just like the music – so we could just have fun. We’re a really close team which helps as well.” While Sharni Hooper added: “We just gave it our all.”

A good start and good timing clinched Trafford Synchro’s Lucy Bowes and Charlotte Moore the gold medal in the 12&under Competitive Duets. Their routine, to music from Disney’s Hercules, impressed the judges who scored them at 58.500 and with Bowes’s first place and Moore’s 13th place in the Figures gave them an overall score of 58.906.

“The routine was really good. The best we’ve ever swam it,” said Bowes. While Moore added: “It felt like we were in time and it’s the last time we get to swim in this age group so it was really successful.”

In the 18/19yrs age group competitive duet Harriet Roberts and Rebecca Bates from Reading Royals were unchallenged for the title but showed good movement around the pool to score 62.375 for the routine. After finishing second and fifth respectively in the morning’s Figures, the duo finished on 60.758 overall and will now go away to work on their synchronisation.

While in the recreational duet Trafford Synchro’s Tessa Griffiths and Eniko Toth were the only entered team but gave a well executed routine to finish with a score of 64.875. “Hopefully they’ll be pleased with their performance,” Carlsen added.